Flydubai set to receive five 737 MAX in 2017

On November 17, 2013, flydubai announced a commitment for an order for up to 111 aircraft worth $11.4 billion from Boeing.

Flydubai will get the delivery of five 737 MAX in 2017 and the new aircraft will help the airline further expand the network within the radius of a three billion population around Dubai, its chief operating officer Capt Kenneth Gile told  Khaleej Times in an interview.

On November 17, 2013, flydubai announced a commitment for an order for up to 111 aircraft worth $11.4 billion from Boeing. This order includes up to 100 Boeing 737 MAX and up to 11 Next-Generation Boeing 737-800s. It was the largest single-aisle order for Boeing in the Middle East.

“[This] commitment for an order for up to 111 aircraft from Boeing signifies the strength of flydubai’s business model and the still untapped opportunity to connect previously underserved markets to Dubai. Flydubai will continue to contribute to the growth of trade and tourism in the UAE, an internationally established centre for aviation,” Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Emirates airline, Chief Executive of the Emirates Group and Chairman of flydubai, said at the signing ceremony of the order, which was placed on the first day of the last Dubai Airshow at Dubai World Central.

Capt Gile said the deliveries of the first Boeing 737 MAX will commence in the second half of 2017 and continue until the end of 2023. As one of the most reliable and efficient single-aisle aircraft models of its type currently available today, it will support flydubai’s continued growth, he added. The Dubai-based carrier’s furious growth has shown that flydubai cannot just absorb the 50 737s it ordered back in 2008; from 2016, a further 11 more Boeing 737-800s will expand the fleet and in 2017. The airline will be amongst the first batch of airlines to induct the 737 MAX 8, the fuel-efficient replacement for today’s 737-800 fleet.

“We will get the first five aircraft [737 Max] by the end of 2017,” Capt Gile confirmed. The new airplane will provide 925km additional range to flydubai compared to 737-800 and the airline will be able to expand to Frankfurt, Stockholm, Bangkok, Kunming and many more places.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines will get the first delivery of the 737 MAX in the third quarter of 2017, according to Boeing Company. Flydubai will probably be the second or third airline to take the delivery of the 737 MAX 8.

The Seattle-based aeroplane manufacturer will start testing of the 737 MAX next year at its Renton facility.

Earlier this month, Boeing Company said that it has started building its first 737 MAX single-aisle jetliner on schedule. The new model accounts for nearly half of the company’s total plane orders.

Boeing’s newest family of single-aisle airplanes — 737 MAX 7, 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9 — will build on the Next-Generation 737’s popularity and reliability while delivering customers unsurpassed fuel efficiency in the single-aisle market. Last year the programme launched the 737 MAX 200, a new variant based on the 737 MAX 8 that can accommodate up to 200 seats, increasing revenue potential and providing customers up to 20 percent better fuel efficiency per seat than today’s most efficient single-aisle aeroplanes. — abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com